Andyjr1515

[url="https://www.facebook.com/eddie.tahuka"]And this is his Facebook page[/url]....easiest thing might be to ask him

His full name is Eddie Tahuka

Here are a couple more shots - the headstock logo shows up much more on this. The bassist's name according to Reverbnation is Eddie N. :

I like that a lot

[quote name='BassBus' timestamp='1469814343' post='3101314'] Stunning work. I love the hatch on the back. You have to look closely to see it. Can we hear what it sounds like? [/quote] Thanks I actually don't have a bass rig but I will do some sound clips on my little valve guitar amp. It won't give any idea in absolute terms , but the comparative differences across the many settings may be of interest.

[quote name='Norris' timestamp='1469817498' post='3101332'] It started looking nice and ended looking gorgeous. Cracking job Andy! An archtop bass is third on my to-build list [/quote] Hi, Norris A six string carved top archtop electric has been on my list for ages. Seeing the skill and work clearly put into this original build has made me have second thoughts!

Just for the record, this is it, new strings, all set up and - apart from a couple of gold screws I'm going to replace - ready to go It's quite a bass... ...and so onto starting the EB3 style SG Bass for our old-gits-band's bassist. As always, thanks for the comments and encouragement along the way

Looking good, Andy

Thanks for the kind words, folks OK - we have a fully functioning bass: Got some tidying up to do - and I need to see if I can drop one of the pots a little....it's a different spec to the rest and the knob is sitting a touch high - and I need to put a thicker bit of foam under the bridge pickup. Then it's fitting some new strings Stuart has sent to me and final setup and see if I can polish out some of those historical belt-rash and dings a touch. I don't use couriers with guitars and basses over a weekend but this should be on its way back to Stuart on Monday

You know when I said "It'll be something daft like a missing earth or something"? Well how about the "Actually, the volume knob on the amp I was testing it on just wasn't up high enough" daft reason There were no strings on for my initial test and I was using the trick of just tapping the coil slugs with the end of a screwdriver...on an electric six string amp...at electric six string sort of volumes... Happily, my checks for earth continuity etc, etc, merely involved looking with a torch and using a multimeter rather than taking all the gubbins out again. Having walked away from it for an hour or so, I thought "let's go back to basics...could it be the guitar lead, could it be a dud battery, could it be [b][i]the f*****g volume wasn't high enough"[/i][/b] Ho Hum... all seems to work tickety-boo....everything Result....sort of

Isn't it nice to be right ...about the minus 3, All in and plugged in.....and not a peep. Nada. Diddly squat. It'll be something daft like a missing earth or something. At least now I know what I'm going to be doing tomorrow

Difficult to get perfect wiring runs with so many cross lines on the looms, but the main thing is to try to avoid wires crossing the 'f' hole (approx marked on the cardboard): On a scale of 1 to 10 what do you think the chances are of this working first time? Minus 3???

[quote name='W1_Pro' timestamp='1469708310' post='3100490'] Phew. Rather you than me. If I was doing this wiring it would[list=1] [*]never work again and I'd [*]manage to give myself an almost fatal electric shock from a 9v battery. [/list] [/quote]

So, Mr Bond....do you cut the red wire or the blue wire? Changing the electrics round in a pre-wired loom takes a bit of concentration

Now the frets are done and the fretboard cleaned up a bit, it makes you appreciate the quality of the original build. How's these for inlays? I think we're on the home straight. Stuart's preference is to retain the three-way switch instead of the Seymour Duncan's STC-3P EQ's blend and also to go for separate treble and bass pots rather than using the supplied stacked pot. The nice thing is that this allows exactly the same control configuration as the original - and also we can use the original's wooden knobs The knobs were all drilled for grub screws but no grubscrews were in the holes. Normal knob grubscrews were too large but I found some old stratocaster bridge saddles in my bits box. Cut down with a dremel cutting disc, the height adjustment grubscrews from those were perfect!: The replacement 100k centre-detent pots for splitting the tone controls arrived this morning, so I should be able to start the electronics later today...

I've spent some time levelling and re-crowning the frets. They were, as the technical description goes, 'all over the place'. Nothing hugely out and nothing loose, but high spots - mostly middle to treble or middle to bass on about 1/3 of the frets. After levelling the high spots with a diamond plate, I then recrowned with a Hosco crowning file, then ditto with progressively finer micro-web down to 12000 grit. They look nice and shiny but the main thing is that they are level and round-topped : Next is to clean and re-oil the fretboard. In the meantime, the EQ has arrived

Bit of tidying up to do, but this is the above side: ...and this is the other side: Neither bear super-close examination - the light catches the grain differently to the neck so in some lights they look lighter and others they look darker, and without stripping the whole neck and refinishing it is difficult to hide the join - but it is nevertheless a great improvement on the original. Waiting for the EQ to arrive but today I should be able to at least finish the other bits and pieces ready for the final re-assembly. I'm sure I've forgotten something, but today's tasks will include drilling and countersinking the back cover screw holes, checking the fret levels, polishing the frets and cleaning the fretboard. All being well, end of this week should see this on its way back to Stuart

I love the thru-neck on the back shot. Great finish. Excellent work, Andy! ((one of) the other) Andy

This is probably as close as I can get. The edges will soften off when I apply the clear finish so I don't think it will be any longer the first thing your eye is drawn to! Now just got to do the other side Andy

Top job. Beautiful looking bass. Soft V is my favourite too - for bass and 6 string electric. Was never sure why it went out of fashion for the latter - it has the depth for chords and the slickness for lead...

Still have to chisel and sand this flush, stain it as close to the neck colour as possible and varnish, but the first side is in :

Cross-grain maple.....cross-grain maple....where have I used that before? Although I have some maple veneer, the cutout is a couple of mm deep and veneer is only 0.6mm thick. Yes, I could fill it but it would be better if I could remember where I've seen some thicker stuff. Maybe a head-stock plate? GOT IT! You use cross-grain maple to strengthen the back join of an acoustic: I had a rummage around in my bits box and found this: And it's the right width. And there's a bit of spare if I cock one of them up. It's been a good day!

And the second infill is off: This one is hiding a slightly bigger gap between the side and the neck but it still should be possible to minimise (or at very worst, reduce) the visual impact.

[quote name='W1_Pro' timestamp='1469279560' post='3097150'] It's definitely one of those questions eh? [/quote] Oh, yes....oh, so yes....

[quote name='W1_Pro' timestamp='1469279222' post='3097148'] I'm not quite sure why, other than the difficulty of doing it, but as far as I know, semi acoustics generally aren't shielded. Anyone got a view? I only asked, as I have a vague memory of a guitarist mate of mine having an Ibanez semi from the eighties, I have an even vaguer memory of that having a sort of tinfoil bath around the controls (on the inside of course). Having said that, I fully accept that I'm not as young as I was, and memory can be a finicky mistress. In short, I might be talking total sh*t..... [/quote] Shielding control chambers is a common thing to do, Stuart. Some people use conductive paint and others, me included, use copper foil. This is Kert's Camphor bass: ...but to work, it's got to be a full Faraday cage - it has to be earthed and the cover is also covered and earthed. That's why I say it would be very difficult to do that on a semi that - as with most traditional semi's - don't have a control chamber and hatch. Not sure how you would get any conductive shielding into the body cavity. Maybe the Ibanez had a Les-Paul like chamber? Anyway, though - decent question. Anyone know?